© 2024
Virginia's Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

VT Researchers Devise System to Clean Japanese Power Plant

www.wikipedia.org

Scientists may have discovered a way to clean up radioactive waste at Japan’s Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant.  A common substance found in plant cell walls may be part of the solution.

When the Japanese nuclear reactor melted down in March 2011, it contaminated the water with radioactive cesium.  Since then, scientists have been looking for ways to remove it. Two Japanese researchers working with Virginia Tech Professor Barry Goodell on new uses for lignin left over from paper production, created an entirely new molecule called PDC. They then discovered PDC could also bind to radioactive cesium removing it from water. Japanese scientists are now looking to test the molecule on contaminated wastewater from the nuclear plant in Japan. They presented their findings at an international biotech symposium in October.
 

Robbie Harris is based in Blacksburg, covering the New River Valley and southwestern Virginia.